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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2296.PDF
NOVEMBER 22ND, IO45 FLIGHT 557 Table I.—Main Features of London-New York Air Routes Route KinWO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Itinerary Great-Circle route Azores Azores Azores Azores, Bermuda Azores, Bermuda Azores, St. Johns Azores, St. Johns Refuelling Points Out Off Rineanna, over GanderOff Azores Off London, off AzoresOver Azores, off Azores Off Azores, off Bermuda Off London, off Azores, off Bermuda Off Azores, off St. Johns Off London, off Azores, off St. Johns In Off Gander Over Azores Off New York, off AzoresOff New York, over AzoresOff Bermuda, over Azores Off New York, off Azores Off St. Johns, off Azores Off New York, off St. Johns, off Azores No. of Refuelling* (2 Oufl 11 I" $1 each way 2 „ „ 2 ., ., 2 .. „ (3 Out\ 12 In / 2 each way 3 ,. „ Mean Route Distance, StatuteMiles 3,450 4,184 3,585 4,045 3,930 3,695 3338 3,918 Range Required, Statute Miles 1,685 1,930 1,730 1,660 2.460 1.720 1.560 1,350 Remark < Suitable northern route Long range re- quired Suitable southerlyroute Suitable southerly routeRange too great No improvement on (3), but ad- ditional refuel- linwling Suitable for short-range aircraft Suitable for short- range aircraft Fig. 1. Refuelling points along various possible routes between London and New York. We have considered, for convenience, the London- Gander stage only, but by means of-flight refuelling it is seen to be possible to con- vey an additional load of pas- sengers and freight as far as Gander, and they can then be transported over the further stage to New York.. With an unrefuelled service, hav- ing a restricted payload, it is very unlikely that additional payload could be picked up at Gander, and therefore the airlineT is forced to continue to run ungconomically all the way to^ew York. In other words, the cost figure of /15 per additional passenger could be assumed to cover the whole distance from Lon- don to New York. Before concluding this sec- tion, mention should be made of a further improvement which becomes possible with a flight-refuelled service. It has been shown that the fuel aboard the airliner at take-off and after refuelling should be equal in order to obtain the maximum payload, and it is this factor which determines the refuelling point. On the westward flight the refuelling operation is arranged 580 miles west of Rineanna, but if. instead, refuelling takes place over the tanker's air- field, the airliner will be given an .overload at that point with no payload, such a machine is incapable of flying non-stop from London to New York, but for the expendi- ture of ^750, as detailed above, the full complement of 20 sleeping passengers at 175 lb. each, plus personal luggage at 100 lb. per passenger, can be carried, together with full freight load of 5,300 lb., gryiagCa total payload of 10,800 lb. Atlantic Comparison In order to obtain an idea of the relative merits of an unrefuelled and a flight-refuelled service, the stage from London to Gander may be examined. The weight schedules are given in Table II. In this case the refuelling point is 580 statute miles west of Rineanna when westbound and 5^6 miles east of Gander on the return flight. ~ The first point that becomes apparent is the large pay- load rfircrcpqncy botTrccn the two unrefuelled trips and the comparative uniformity of payload when flight refuelled. Tiie payload increases are 153 per cent, and 39 per cent, respectively; on the eastbound trip the benefits are not so great, and since unrefuelled the payload is not much less than on the refuelled, westbound flight, the retu-n refuel- ling could be dispensed with. However, for the sake of comparison we will retain both refuellings. The costs of the refuelling operations are £400 and £450 respectively, for which the payload increments are seen to be 6,6/af lb. and 3.597 lb. This works out at £15 and £31 per additional passenger (246 lb.) for the journey, or 1.31 pence and 2.72 pence, per passenger mile. Table II.—Weight Schedule London to Gander Item (Ib.) Refuelled Fuel 14,114 Oil 1,260 Day passengers at 246 ib. (34) 8,364 Food at 20 Ib. each ... 680 Freight 1,872 Unrefuelled 20,721 1,260 (16) 4.93S 320 53 Total disposable ... Total payload 26,290 Ib. 10,916 Ib. 26,290 Ib. 4,309 Ib. Gander to London Fuel Oil Day Passengers (34) Food Freight ... 12,114 1,260 8,364 680 3,872 15,711 1,260 8,364 680 275 Total disposable Total payload 26,290 Ib. 12,916 Ib. 26,290 Ib. 9,319 Ib. Tankeroperation Tanker fuel Cargo fuel Total fuelload Galls. Ib. Galls. Ib. Ib. Rineanna |,320 9,580 2,680 19,430 29,010 Gander (westward) 410 2,970 2,334 16,920 19,890 Gander (eastward) 511 3,706 2,925 21,206 24,912
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